About me

• I have worked at the intersection of healing spaces and global solidarity for many years and been in leadership and advisory positions in social change organisations for over 25 years.
• I am committed to the possibility of solidarity movements that heal, rather than perpetuate injustice and I am fascinated about how we change our social change organisations to make that possible.
• I am trained in Shadow Work Coaching, Action Learning, Somatic Movement, and Trauma-informed approaches as well as Anthropology which taught me to always question why. I’ve also studied gifted specific coaching and am able to meet people as a coach and facilitator in any need for greater depth or complexity as we navigate these complex waters of change. I have a degree in Swahili and Social Anthropology and a Masters in Anthropological Research. I am a Certified Shadow Work Coach, Accredited Action Learning (& Virtual Action Learning) Facilitator, TedX Speaker & Nia Movement Practitioner; the Co-Founder of the Red Tent Directory and The Story Party; and a podcaster and public speaker.
• Healing Solidarity is a project I initiated that invites people in and around international 'development' and 'aid' spaces to gather around the work of healing the sector both from injustice in our practice and the working practices that overwhelm and exhaust us. The project currently runs an annual online conference and the Healing Solidarity Collective, an online space for connecting and sharing. Find the website here and join the Collective here.
• These practices supplement all I have learnt from many years in so-called ‘international development’, disability and women's rights work. Roles have included Executive Director Able Child Africa (2004-2011), Regional Representative (East Africa) for the mental health and wellbeing charity Basic Needs, Chair Lambeth Women’s Aid, Assessor Comic Relief. I am currently Co-Chief Executive and Transformation Officer at ADD International working part-time alongside my co-lead Fredrick Ouko and remain a Co-Director of Healing Solidarity.
• I’m skilled at professional fundraising and grant-making and have raised millions of pounds for the organisations I’ve worked for to fund social justice projects. I’ve Chaired a Domestic Violence Refuge and led the organisation through a merger/change process and consulted with other organisations in their change-management processes.
• Experience has taught me that we need to name the dissonance between who we think we are and how we operate in order to practice a solidarity that enables us to face the challenges of these times.
• My Embodying Change Coaching practice provides a foundation by enabling people I work with to name the dissonance and then move forward with strategies that help to bring their work in change making space into greater alignment with their principles and with genuine solidarity that is focused on healing injustice.

I am passionate about making an impact and like many change-making professionals, I also know what it is like to get burnt out in the process. I want all of us to be able to do this work and create this impact, sustainably, without costing us our wellbeing - and I know it can be done.

The wellbeing of humanity and the ways we care for ourselves and one another - in our workplaces, in our communities, and in our personal lives - is my work and the passions of my heart.

I believe that Radical Action + Cultures of Care = Resilient Leaders Capable of Crafting a New Tomorrow.

You can be in touch with me by signing up for my newsletter and, along with my newsletter, you'll receive series of practice invitations and be the first to hear when there are opportunities to work with me.

Mary Ann